I mean, that happens. Bomb makers die when they screw up. The guys that make fireworks sometimes do, and they work under very strict guidelines.

But, even with the kind of home brew, low speed stuff that you can do in your garage, it’s still very dangerous. Shit, you fuck up making some stuff, and even if it doesn’t explode, you can end up in the hospital.

Even dumb shit like dry ice bombs can mess you up bad.

And it isn’t like experience is a guarantee of safety because experience can lead to complacency. And that’s when people really fuck up.

The kind of people that are making bombs as insurgents though, they tend to have a “recipe” of sorts, a way of building their preferred device. That methodology tends to be highly reproducible. They’ll have their supplies, and tools all set up to minimize fuckery. The same thing, built the same way every time, you tend to have less chance of making simple mistakes.

It’s hard to describe how to maximize safety without describing how to build a device, and fuck that noise. But the key is to be precise, and follow the same steps every time.

Now, the pros, like the dudes doing demolition, or mining, they’re usually dealing with stable supplies. They don’t really make bombs in the way I think you mean, though it’s effectively the same methodology to prevent error. You have a plan, you stick to it, and you don’t deviate from safety standards.

If you go digging through old newspapers and such, there’s all kinds of idiots getting hurt trying to blow shit up in their back yard (sometimes literally in their back yard, not even somewhere away from other people). We had an idiot that tried to mix up some gunpowder and metal shavings to make his own fireworks this summer. Took off his hand, and last I heard was still needing surgeries from where he fucked up his face. No idea what he was doing exactly, but it’s an example of idiots idioting and bad things ensuing.